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WHEW! What a week! I really enjoyed camping, but I am happy to be home too. We had a lot of fun and did a bunch of cool activities like going to Penn’s Cave. It’s a huge cave that you take a boat through. We also went to Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland and I got to see a giant anaconda, giant tortoises, and a chameleon! Of course, we went fishing (OK, OK, my sister Josie caught a little more fish than me) and we had campfires. The most frightening interesting thing I saw was my first wild skunk…up close. Then I saw my second and third and fourth and fifth and…well you get the idea. We were pretty much terrorized by skunks the whole time we were there. At first I thought they were kind of cute but then they got close…too close…like two feet away *shiver*. But they kind of ignored us all and we just let them do whatever they wanted and nobody got sprayed. My mom got a picture of one with my iPod Touch when it came real close.

One really cool thing we did was my friend Ethan (who we were camping with) thought we should write a play. Our camp was near the amphitheater and we figured we should use it for a play (our parents were the audience and also helped out with the play). Ethan and his sister Emma and Josie and I played the parts of pirates in the play. Ethan and I wrote the play and Ethan’s Dad wrote a song for us to sing. The story (called “The Voyage of the Clam Shucker” – we had clams for dinner the night before🙂 ) is about spice traders getting attacked by a pirate (played by my Dad). We made swords out of cardboard. I have a video of us practicing the song we sang for the play. Ethan is editing the video of the whole play and I can’t wait to see it! Here is the practice –

The cast of “The Voyage of the Clam Shucker”

More importantly – how many books do you think I read during the week?!? Here is the stack of books I brought with me (OK there is one missing, My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George because I lent it to Ethan to read)-

I brought a total of twelve books – how many did I read?😉 Put your guess in the comment section below. I’ll tell you the answer in Wednesday’s post!

Switching subject **Whirrrrr**

I know it’s late (I was away) but I did finish a rough draft of a picture book for the 12×12 Challenge!

For those of you who don’t know, I am trying to do Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 Challenge. It is a challenge to write 12 picture book drafts in 12 months in 2012. You can click on the 12×12 banner on the right side bar or the one above to learn more about it. The PB is about a bird and a worm who are friends. The book has a message about the dangers of strangers and I tried to write it in rhyme (which is pretty hard for me). For this month, I am going to work on it some more and make my rhyming better.

Switching subject **Whirrrrr**

I got two awards! First I got The Versatile Blogger award from Bridgette Gallagher, AKA Shortcut Girl!

I thought it was very nice of Ms. Gallagher to nominate my blog! Please check out her blog, Shortcut Girl!

I also got the Blog on Fire Award from Donna Martin! Ms. Martin has an awesome blog called “On the Write Track”. Check it out by clicking HERE! Thanks Ms. Martin!!

I am passing these awards on to all the awesome bloggers out there that I follow!

Now that’s what I call a creative holiday, Erik! I would say, since you were working on the play (musical?) you were able to read three books. Congrats on all your awards, and keep up the good work with 12×12…

Great post Erik! Sounds like camping was a lot of fun. I would have been scared to death of being sprayed by the skunks! I love the fact that you wrote and performed a play, how very cool. Keep up the good work and enjoy the rest of your summer:)

Your trip sounds fun! We have a skunk that meanders behind our house sometimes and I always know when it’s been by…I am somewhat terrified of camping as there are a lot of wild animals around here and it’s something I never grew up doing but hopefully I’ll get over my fear and take my boys when they are a bit older! I’m guessing 6 books.🙂

How fun! Your song made me laugh. And I was noticing Wednesday Wars, one of my all-time favorite books by one of my top three children’s authors!! And My Side of the Mountain, love that one, too!! Let’s see, ordinarily I’d guess you read all your books, but with all the activities you had going on, (and seeing one of them is by Mark Twain) I’ll say lower. How about 7? (Since that number wasn’t taken yet.)

Sounds like you and your family had an awesome vacation, Erik! Love the play…even more, I love the idea of you and your fellow campers writing the play! How many books did you read? Hmmm…even with all of the other activities…I would say 9.🙂 But even if the number was zero,..you can always read books…but visit reptiles, go caving and put on a play…that doesn’t happen every day.🙂

Sounds like you all had a great time in spite of the skunks! Look out Pirates Of Penzance🙂 Congrats on the awards and finishing your 12×12 manuscript, and my bet is that you read all 12! (I love Holes and The Phantom Tollbooth which I can see in that stack!)

Sounds like your parents are awesome. Not every parents gets involved in helping kid with plays. As for the skunks — you were brave. After skunk #2, I would have been out of there. Sounds like a great skunk book to me. Glad you had fun. Enjoyed the music. My guess is four books. You were so busy!

What a great vacation! I’m so glad no one got sprayed by those skunks. Ick. Your play sounds fantastic — I love the title! As for books, I’m guessing ten. Because you’re a voracious reader like me, I’m guessing you somehow fit books in the little snippets of time during the morning, noon and night!

I think it was four books. Probably 4.5, then you finished that one on the way home. The play was cool. Skunks were not fun. I heard from a customer today about some bear stories when he went camping. Let’s just say we’d be happy dealing with skunks instead of hungry bears with baby cubs.

Oh, Erik, I am having flashbacks to the summers at my aunt’s house. There were plenty of performances, mostly involving poor singing and pitiful dancing. And we always forced our parents to buy tickets and watch. I’m sure your play was a million times better. I enjoyed watching the practice!

Thank you! I would have LOVED to see your play(s)! My Dad would have fit right in – He is a bad singer AND a bad dancer!😉 Ethan’s Mom was the only one actually who had to pay for a ticket ($4.00), because my Mom, Dad, and Ethan’s Dad were helping with the play, or were in it.